November 9th

Clinton: Will work with Abbas in any new capacity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 6, 2009 - 1:00am US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday she looked forward to working with President Mahmoud Abbas in "any new capacity" after he announced on Thursday he would not seek a second term. "I look forward to working with President Abbas in any new capacity," Clinton said, noting that the two discussed his political future when they met last week in Abu Dhabi, Reuters was reporting. » Read more

Netanyahu Has Succeeded at Subjugating the US Yet Again ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am There is an increasing need for unusual ideas and strategies during this delicate phase of dwindling hope for progress in the Middle East peace process, in light of increasing Israeli arrogance, rising Iranian sarcasm, worsening Palestinian and Arab divisions as well as regressing US policies. The basic question facing these issue and all those concerned is: what is required? » Read more

Thousands in West Bank Urge Abbas Not to Quit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat November 9, 2009 - 1:00am Thousands of Palestinians turned out in the West Bank Sunday to urge Mahmoud Abbas to run again for the presidency following his announcement that he did not want a second term in the job. Waving flags, Abbas supporters greeted the president as he conducted a rare tour of towns in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, part of the territories where the Palestinians aim to establish a state. "Mahmoud Abbas, don't step down! You are the foundation," chanted the crowd. The Fatah movement, which Abbas heads, had called for participation in the show of support. » Read more

Abbas move seen as gamble with US ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Omar Karmi - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am If nothing else, Mahmoud Abbas spurred a flurry of reaction and speculation about the future of the struggle for Palestinian statehood after he stated his desire in a speech on Thursday not to run again for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority. Fatah supporters rallied across the West Bank on Friday to urge him to reconsider, while Palestinian leaders from both within and outside his own party closed ranks around him. Further afield, Arab, European and Turkish officials have expressed their hope that Mr Abbas might yet be persuaded otherwise. » Read more

Arab echoes of grassroots protest ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Craig Nelson - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am If Gamal Abdel Nasser, the late president of Egypt and legendary champion of Arab nationalism, had risen from his grave during the heady days of November 1989, he would have rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The stirring on the streets of Prague, Berlin and Bucharest not only spelled the end to the “enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend” politics that Nasser had mastered in playing off the rival superpowers against each other, it was a sharp break with the sweeping pan-Arab nationalism that Nasser espoused and the top-down political style he practised. » Read more

'US attitude to Israel may be changing' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hilary Leila Krieger - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am A leading Republican congressman warned that the climate toward Israel on Capitol Hill could be changing, ahead of his address to a major Jewish conference Sunday. "The possibility is there," US House of Representatives Minority Whip Eric Cantor told The Jerusalem Post, speaking about the prospect that Congress's support for Israel could be ebbing. » Read more

Abbas claims Israel doesn't want peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh, Tovah Lazaroff - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am Israel does not want peace, does not want to stop settlement construction and does not want the two-state solution, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday. Addressing supporters during a rare visit to Bethlehem and Hebron, Abbas said that the Palestinians would not make any additional concessions and would continue to demand their rights. "I don't know what the Israelis want," he said. "They must start thinking about what needs to be done if they really want peace." » Read more

Abbas: I don't know what Israel wants ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters November 9, 2009 - 1:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that Israel had done nothing to promote peace. "It appears they do not want peace, and they don't want to stop settlement, and they don't want the vision of two-states, so I don't know what they want," he said, addressing a small crowd outside the presidential palace in Bethlehem. "We must remain believers in peace," he added, speaking in a car park which still bears the track marks of Israel tanks stationed there during the Intifada, or uprising, which swept the Palestinian territories in 2000. » Read more

West Bank rabbi: Jews can kill Gentiles who threaten Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz November 9, 2009 - 1:00am Just weeks after the arrest of alleged Jewish terrorist, Yaakov Teitel, a West Bank rabbi on Monday released a book giving Jews permission to kill Gentiles who threaten Israel. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro, who heads the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the Yitzhar settlement, wrote in his book "The King's Torah" that even babies and children can be killed if they pose a threat to the nation. Shapiro based the majority of his teachings on passages quoted from the Bible, to which he adds his opinions and beliefs. » Read more

Abbas wants Obama guarantee for East Jerusalem freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am If Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas makes good on his declaration that he won't run in the upcoming Palestinian presidential election, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his entire cabinet would resign, top Palestinian officials predicted yesterday. » Read more